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Abandoned - Ironwood in the Green Woods - Story 72

Started by Abandoned, August 31, 2021, 04:55:14 AM

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Abandoned

#15
Chapter 12 


  Before laying tracks we would see that the workers had good hot food readily available at break time.   That stockpile where the wood and mine carts were unloading would be a busy place once track laying began.   We set up a few tables and benches and built a large spit to roast boar or bear depending on what we had the most of at any given time.

  The covered market would also be a busy place.  We built a stew pot there and would keep it full of hearty venison or rabbit stew.  We had plenty of potatoes and herbs to add.  To the west, not far from the Human's stockpile we built a fall food stand to bake apples or potatoes, again depending on what we would have the most of at the time.  We would make sure there was always hot food available especially in the winter and on those chilly autumn days like today.


Abandoned

#16
Chapter 13


  It took a while but in year 7 we were finally ready to start laying tracks.  The plan was to extend the track from the tunnel straight west through town to the river and across.  On the other side there was space to build a turnaround.  We still waited for word from the railroad company about whether to merge back into the one track or have a second track and tunnel to return to Chattachoo.  It would also be up to the company whether or not we continue to the west.  As of now our purpose was to supply Chattachoo with iron and wood. 

It was late spring  when the wood and iron carts again headed to Chattachoo.  The workers were eager for the train to be up and running, it was a tight squeeze getting the double wide wagons through the tunnel.

  We were eager from them to return with news and hopefully with more workers.  We only had 8 laborers and 3 builders.  It would be a while before any of the children finished school and began families of their own.  We realized the Human's school was filled to capacity.  We promptly built another school, this one behind the stable, between the covered market and the closest work camp.

  It was autumn when the empty carts returned from Chattachoo.  The first few railway tracks had been laid.

Abandoned

#17
Chapter 14


  Chattachoo had no workers or animals they could spare but our animals had started to multiply and we could free up more workers.  We would manage.  The foresters in the first work camp, and the  wood and branch cart workers from the far work camp would not be needed for the time being.  We had plenty of firewood and logs and there would be plenty more logs from the land we need to cleared while laying the tracks.  The mine cart from the far camp also was not need now, there was plenty of surface iron and stone close by.  Only the wood and mine carts going to and from Chattachoo would continue hauling those resources.

   The hunters in the Elven Tree Trunker and the closest work camp were doing a good job providing meat and textiles but the traveling trader from the far work camp was providing rabbit meat.  That worker would continue working.  Likewise, the Elven Tree Trunker gatherer and the gatherer from the first work camp did a good job providing fruits and vegetables but the cart from the far work camp was doing the same and would continue working.  The peddler cart that came from Chattachoo had long since been emptied but was now bringing supplies to the covered market from the human side of town as well as apples from the fruit and nut patches.  It would continue to do so. 

Clearing the path for the tracks would provide iron and wood for the tracks, as well as logs for the firewood cutter.  There would also be more stone as well.  There was already a good supply of stone on the stockpiles.  We  would start paving our road with stone, making traveling easier for the traveling trader carts.

  The workers returning from Chattachoo with the empty mine and wood carts brought with them instructions from the railroad company and a copy of the latest world map.  We did not know there was an earlier copy of a world map. 

Abandoned

#18
Chapter 15


   The map was marked with the railroad's expansion plan.  Ironwood would continue to supply iron and wood to Chattachoo and points east.  It was our choice if we needed a station or loading dock but the turnaround and double tracks and tunnels would be needed.  When the supply train was up and running we were to build another tunnel and continue laying track across the Green Woods and across the main north and south river.  A station was to be built there.  The tracks were to continue from there as far west as Riverview Resort where another station would be built.  The Resort was a popular destination for riverboat families to meet.  There were also more people from the east that wanted to head west.  The railroad company would be building passenger trains.  Whether the train would continue on north to Smallville was still debatable. That had been the original plan of the 2nd Expedition from Smallville who founded Chattachoo.

   We had a lot of work to do but first we needed the Elves approval.  They were not happy with the expansion plans or double tracks but we agreed that nothing but tracks would be built through the Green Woods to the west and we would not expand our town into the south valley.  In fact the track layers and their families would be moving on to expand the railroad.

  By early spring of year 8 we began building the return tunnel and laying the double tracks.  While the laborers delivered the wood and iron, the builders began paving our roads with stone.  We were soon short of both stone and iron.  Laborers gathered more of both from nearby, the mine was reopened to bring out iron, and the mine cart again brought resources from the far work camp.  By Autumn work had progressed as far as the Covered Market where bowls of hot stew awaited the workers.  The tree fellows watched every move we made. 

Abandoned

#19
Chapter 16


  We did not make much progress laying tracks, the winter weather was bad and we were short of workers and resources.  Work had to stop often.  Weather permitting we gathered surface iron but there was little to be had nearby.  There was a great deal across the river where we would build the turnaround. 

  We built a double stone bridge across the river so a double wide trader cart could cross.  We built a stockpile that the oxen cart and track layers could easily get to.  A few laborers also crossed the bridge to help gather stone and iron.  By autumn work on both the roads and the tracks continued.  We hoped that by this time the following year we would reach that stockpile and the river.

Abandoned

#20
Chapter 17


  We reached that stockpile by early spring of the following year.  We had a few students finish school and those few extra workers really made a difference.  Ironwood now had 90 citizens, 54 adults, 17 students, and 19 young children.  Another 2 or3 students would be finishing school very soon.  We would not need more housing though, there were still young singles in the worker cabins waiting for spouses. By the time the next group of children reached marriageable age, there would be vacant houses when the workers moved on to continue the railroad expansion. 

  Having reached the river, it was a ways to go back down the tracks for hot food.  We built a Market Foods fish n chips BBQ stand not far from the fishing pier.  The workers could get there quickly and  easily for their midday lunch break.  Work was ahead of schedule, work had begun on the trestles to extend the tracks across the river.  By autumn the three students finished school and joined the workforce.  The railroad tracks crossed the river in autumn of year 10.

Abandoned

#21
Chapter 18


  The winter was a mild one and work continued.  By early spring of year 11 the turnaround was finished and the traveling trader mine cart workers took word back to Chattachoo.  We would continue extending the tracks to the west mountain ridge.  It would not take long, workers were already clearing the trees, rock, and iron out of the way.  A small stockpile was set up close to where the tunnel would be dug.

  The Elves were pleased with our decision to make the turnaround as small as possible.  Only a single track would continue on across the Green Woods.  The Elves were still not happy with the railroad crossing their forest but were pleased it was done with as little destruction as possible.  Well, the tree fellows saw to that.  They watch us every inch of the way, from the tunnels in the east to and from Chattachoo, through town, and across the river and all the way to the west.  They watch when a group of bears got on the track but the Elves said not to worry, at the first sign of danger the tree fellows would move the bears off the tracks.  We were to rest assured that the tree fellows would see to it that no child was ever in danger on the tracks.

Abandoned

#22
Chapter 19


  On a cool crisp autumn day of that year, we heard the whistle of a train echoing through the tunnel.  A small group gathered to watch as the train emerged from the tunnel.  Men were waiting in town near the main stockpile to flag the train down to a stop.  We were all impressed by the shiny new train but surprised that it was only the train engine and fuel car that arrived.

The engineer explained that due to the fact we were ahead of schedule and Chattachoo was still short of supplies more cars had not been built.  The engineer brought instructions for building the car that was needed before the train could head back to Chattachoo.  They were starting work on the engine for the passenger train that would head further west when the tunnel was dug and the tracks were laid across the Green Woods.

  Well, weary traveler, Dwarves can build anything and build it well.  Work began immediately on the material wagon that was needed to haul resources to Chattachoo.  The west tunnel and tracks were completed, the mine cart that gathered resources across the river would now deliver the iron and stone to the train instead.  If needed, more iron could be brought from the Trader's Mine.


Bluebird88

I love the look of this town (especially the market area)!

Abandoned

#24
 :) Thanks


Chapter 20


  Those Traveling Trader carts played a big part in the success of Ironwood and the expansion of the railroad.  Those first branch carts helped keep us warm that first winter being sure that every stockpile had a supply of firewood.  The workers and the animals they brought from Chattachoo made more carts and heavier hauling possible.

  The wood and mine carts hauled endless loads of iron, wood, and stone from the far wood camp and from across the river.  Not to mention trips back to Chattachoo with resources they badly needed.  The wood cart also brought the branches cut from the logs pleasing the Elves with the extra effort at saving the trees. 

  The peddlers cart brought us much needed tools, clothes, apples, potatoes, and flour all the way from Chattachoo.  The fruit and vegetable cart delivered gatherables to the covered market from the far work camp, and the hunter cart took meat and textiles to the open trader market across town where they were needed.

  Those carts lightened the workload of our laborers and made it possible for us to build the tracks that brought the train to Ironwood.  The mine cart brought resources to have that train loaded and heading back to Chattachoo in the early spring of year 12.


Abandoned

#25
Chapter 21


  Yes, weary traveler, Spring is nice but there is nothing like autumn in Ironwood, crisp cool days with sunshine warm upon your face, the rustle of autumn leaves from the hardwood trees beneath your feet, and the smell of pine wood cookfires and roasted meats and baked apples.  Life is good here in Ironwood and everyone did their fair share making it that way.

   The Elves hunted, fished, and gathered, but most of all they protected the Green Woods.  The Humans kept records, built a school, grew wheat, baked bread, raised goats for milk, and made clothes.  We Dwarves made tools and build houses of stone and houses of wood.  We cut stone to pave the roads and dug tunnels and a mine.  We built the carts that the young singles used to haul goods from the work camps to the town.   

  In autumn of year 12 Ironwood's population of healthy happy citizens was 94, 61 adults, 25 students, and 8 young children.  The railroad through Ironwood was complete and many of those young workers would be traveling on to expand the railroad further west.  I suppose it is time for you to be traveling on too.  Safe travels, weary traveler, and enjoy the fall season.


The End


Abandoned